A Year Late
by CristinaLee
Summary: The world has ended. Months later, 9 people are traveling around the U.S, Canada and Mexico just trying to survive the eaters...zombies, the people effected by the disease that ended the world. But the important question is: Can they survive? ON HIATUS!
1. Rocks in a rusty coffee can

'The world as you know it is over.' There was a long deafening pause. 'A catastrophic catastrophe as swept over the nation, no ladies and gentlemen, the world. The end of the world is here and it has claimed the human race. This is Ron Sidwald signing off for the last time..._ever_ for Channel 12 news, January 5, 2013. God be with you all.' Static and hissing is all that's left from the 6 month old news cast that still ran in random intervals all over the now nothing but dust, rust and abandoned desert that was once the flourishing United States of America. The world population of 7 billion as been reduced drastically for an unknown number ranging in the possible 3,000. But that was just a wishful thought of the ones that were still alive and unaffected by the disease that claimed their people and perfect life they had, though they didn't know how perfect it was until it was gone.

A rock sailed through the air, disappeared in the glare of the unforgiving sun and clinked into a rusty old folger's coffee can that tipped and rolled around on its round rim bottom, then tipped back and settled back onto the dusty ground.

"Woo!" A shout hollered from the top of a modified faded yellow school bus. "Rock in one. Beat that, Tank!"

"Oh, fuck you, Toombs. That was just a lucky shot." Tank grumbled, jumping off the top of the bus and picking up the rocks he and Toombs had been tossing into the coffee can to pass the time. "Hey yo, Link, when does Sy, Zero and Trix get back from where ever the hell they're going too?" The beefy, over tanned Hispanic shrugged his shoulders as he killed his AK-47, his two Glock 18C extended clip, automatics already cleaned and reloaded in his shoulder holsters. Link never said much, but he was good shit when it came to using his guns and getting the job done. Those qualities were the reason Sy and Zero valued him so much in these times.

"Where'd they go?" Toombs asked, sitting back in the fold up lawn chair on the top of the bus, pulling on his sun goggles.

"To the that city we saw on the map on the way here." Link answered, pushing bullets into a new clip for the AK.

"Are you fucking serious?" Tank boomed. "That shit was like seven miles from here and its almost sun down!" Link shrugged again, putting the clip into the gun. Throwing the rocks down to the ground, Tank shoved his way into the bus, took the radio off the dashboard and held down the button on it so hard the black plastic around it cracked.

"Sexy 'n' sleek to Fuck you, over." he called and released the button to wait for Trix's response. There a a bit of static before it came in.

"This is Fuck you, come in Sexy 'n' Sleek." static. "Over."

"What the hell are you guys doing, going to a city seven miles out of zone!" Tank chewed Trix out.

"We need to get supplies and we can't.." static. "..so Sy and Zero decided to come. We'll be back in no time. We just got here, over." Trix answered.

"Let me talk to Sy." Tank growled. There was no answer. "Fucking over!" he barked.

"Sy, isn't in range at the moment, here's Zero. Over." Trix replied.

Tank leaned, rested his palms against the hot dashboard and hanging his head. "I don't want to talk to Zero." he sighed to himself, wiping sweat off his forehead with the side of his arm.

"Zero here, over." Zero's annoyed voice came in. "What's up, Tanker?"

"Why the hell didn't you and Sy tell us you were going into the city for supplies this fucking close to sun down?" Tank asked, his anger controlled. Pissing Zero off wouldn't get anyone anywhere.

"We told Link and that's what matters." Zero answered. "He has his orders, now stay off the fucking line. Over and out." throwing the radio receiver, Tank rattled back off the bus and climbed back up to the roof of the bus.

"What's up, T?" Toombs asked as Tank dropped down into a plastic deck chair next to him.

"Nothing." Tank growled. "They'll be back in a bit. Link's left in charge till then."

"Okay." Toombs shrugged, indifferent by it all.


	2. Arrows, Bullets, Safe houses n Promises

Sy thumbed the smooth wood of her English longbow, other than the five guys she rode with, it was her best friend, just like the 50 thin bobtail arrows in the quiver she made and had straped to her back and in case she ran out of arrows, she had two EAA Witness Match Semi Automatic Pistols, one in a left shoulder holster and one in her back waistband, along with a 5'' Gerber paraframe II knife in her right combat boot. She looked over at Zero, who was walking on the other side of the street from her, she looked him over. Dirty and torn cameos. Military FAMAS strapped in front of him, index finger at the ready above it, his two extended clip and automatic Tarurus PT92s in their holsters and bumping against his thighs in rhythm with his walk and his long knife in its holder across his back. Zero was Sy's brother, he was 2 years older than her and the only one she hadn't lost at the end of the world.

Sighing heavily, she shifted her gaze from Zero to Trix or the little twerp as she called him. Wasn't more than 18, about 6 foot and a buck forty. Skittish as hell, slow in the head and annoying like a horse fly. But he was good with technical things like the engine to the bus, the radios and other things like that. He didn't look right, right now with a S2 sub-machine gun in a shoulder strap around his neck, hand gripping the handle like life and love needed it, 12in hunting knife poking out of his timberland and the 2 LD Jungle knives she let him use held to his scrawny right thigh. The only thing that looked right on him was the military radio backpack on his back, so they could stay in contact with Link, Toombs and Tank. Made Sy sad to see someone Trix's age having to do shit like this just to fucking survive.

"I don't think we're going to make it back by dark." Zero's voice called, bringing Sy out of her daze, just to sigh heavy again and pull off her Tan colored Military goggles from around her head.

"Should find shelter then." She said, popping out the black lenses of the goggles and replace them with clear ones, then put them back around her head and over her eyes. She looked up at the sun, "Only got about 2 hours til we're in the dark." Zero nodded agreeing with her, rubbing his dirty, sweaty and gritty face. He kicked a rock in front of him down the street and looked at Sy with a raised eyebrow.

"Trix." Sy called to the kid. "Take a seat, watch the street and remember what your mother did and didn't teach you." she told him, pulling the bow between her back and quiver and pulling out the pistol from her shoulder holster.

"Look all ways when near a street, yell when someone comes and shoot when you need too." Trix recited it to her like a bible verse, in a sense it had become one for them all.

"Good boy." Zero smiled, patting Trix on the head as he sat down on curb.

Zero quickly made his way over to Sy, they stood close to each other and talked about their possible options for a safe shelter to use for the night.

"Could go back two blocks and use the store." Sy suggested. "We already cleared it."

"Yeah, the first two levels. Not the basement, cellar and attic." Zero shook his head.

Sy nodded, exhaling a stressed breath. "Okay, down a half block around the corner and see what pops up." she held her fist out to him. Zero touched his fist to the top of hers in agreement with the plan and they headed down. "Behave, twerp." Sy throw over her shoulder as she and Zero stealthed down the street. Trix waved her away and popped a stick of gum in his mouth, looking down the street the way they came, then around the corner of the wall on the other side of him and down at Sy and Zero as they disappeared.

"Hate being alone." he mumbled to himself, fingering his gun. In nervousness, Trix started to whistle low and rock back and forth, side to side. Timing his movement and whistling with how he looked down the three sections of roads.

The streets were dimming and gray, it was getting cold and Trix was starting to loose his nerve. Zero and Sy hadn't returned yet, but he didn't hear and gunfire either. So, they were probably still scoping out where ever they were scoping out and not getting eaten by anything that lurked in the abandoned buildings. He hoped anyway. Whipping his head to the the left, Trix saw three figures moving down the road where he, Sy and Zero had come from. It couldn't have been the others because Link had orders that if they didn't return by morning he was to take Toombs and Tank to the next planned area and if any of them survived would make their way there to meet them. Getting up and hiding behind the corner of the building, his gun pointed at the moving figures, his heart pounding.

"It's too early yet for the eater." he whispered to himself, trying to calm himself.

He looked up the road where Sy and Zero went. He knew that he couldn't run up that way without them seeing him and he couldn't yell for them either because he was sure they'd hear him before Zero and Sy would and get to him before the three eat him apart. Trix looked back to the three figures, they were closer now. So backing up down the wall a good length, he turned and ran across to an ally, ran down that ally and as he passed through the other side, he collided with Zero.

"Trix, get the fuck off me." Zero growled shoving the teen off him and getting up.

"What are you runnin' from, twerp?" Sy asked, helping him up.

"There's three figures coming up the road. It's not the T's or Link and it's too early for the eaters." Trix panted.

"It's never to early for the eaters." Sy said, pulling night vision goggles out of Zero's pack and replacing her goggles with them and switching them on. "Come on." she whispered going up to the edge of the street and peeking around the corner at the three figures.

"It's okay, Trix. You're right. It's not dark enough for the eaters to come out yet. Not unless you woke them up." Zero assured him.

"I was whistling." Trix shook.

Zero shook his head, coming up behind Sy and pressed his finger to his lips. Trix nodded and zipped his lips. Sy scoped out the three figures coming up the street towards them. They're movements were unsure, like they were lost. One really tall, one close to that and one average height. "Wish I had Tank's sniper scope." she whispered to Zero. "At least then I could see their faces...wait. They've stopped, there's activity behind them."

"What is it?" Zero demanded quietly.

"Those three aren't eater, Z." she said, pulling the Night Vision up away from her eyes and looking back at her brother.

"How do you know?"

"Because the 6 things behind them are." she told him pulling out her bow. "We have to help them." Zero nodded, pulling his FAMAS against his shoulder and looked back and Trix and nodded at him. Trix nodded at Zero and readied himself.

"Go, Sy." Zero whispered, patting Sy on the back.

Sy ran out from the corner to the middle of the street and down a few step where she stopped. Pulling a thin bobtail arrow out of her quiver, placing it in the bow and pulling the sting on the bow back, aiming carefully between the two tallest figures, who she could now see were guys. A smirk pulled on her lips seeing their scared faces, then let go of the arrow. The arrow whizzed through the air, creating a breeze in the longish hair of the second tallest as it went between them and struck one of the eaters through the eye, shattering the back of its skull and dropping it completely dead to the ground. When that eater dropped, Zero and Trix came out as Sy ran to the three guys being tracked by the eaters.

"You need to move, now!" she snapped at them, pulling back another arrow as a second eater got closer. "Go!" she yelled at them, taking out the eater. The three guys ran to where Zero and Trix were and hid behind them.

"Sy, get back here!" Zero yelled at his sister, shooting down 2 eaters. Sy shot another eater, than turned and ran back to the group. As she slid to a stop next to them, Trix let loose with his sub-machine gun. "Take them back to the building." he yelled over the gunfire.

"Come on." Sy said, pushing the three guys back to the building that she and Zero cleared. She pushed them inside. Putting her bow away and pulling out her shoulder gun again, she held the door with one hand and the gun with the other, watching the door for Trix, Zero and anything else that wanted in.

"It's fucking dark in here." one of the guys complained.

"Here." Sy shrugged her pack off, never looking away from the door. "There's heavy duty glow sticks in there. Only break open two, that's all you need to see." she instructed them.

The sound of them rummaging through her pack, then ripping open the foil packaging of the glow sticks and the creaks and pops of the sticks filled the sheet rock walled room. A neon green glow came to life in the room, then the shuffling sounds of the men sitting down with heavy and unease sighs. Zero and Trix came charging in, slamming the door shut and pushing everything they could in front of it. When they felt it was safe, Sy, Zero and Trix pointed their guns and the three men sitting on the floor in front of them. The three struggled up, their hands up and palms out and backing up.

"Whoa, chill." a middle eastern looking one spoke.

"Yeah." A second tallest of the two blond men added in. The tallest of the three and other blond stayed quiet but frightened looking.

"Who are you? Where are you from? What are you doing out here? and are you infected?" Zero interrogated them.

"I'm-I'm.." The tallest stuttered. "Alex, we're all from Sweden. We got trapped her when all the shit hit and as far as any of us know we're not infected."

"And you two are?" Zero asked, pointing his AK at them.

"I'm Fares." The middle Eastern looking one answered.

"And I'm Björne." The other blond answered.

"He's bleeding." Trix said, pointing to Alex. "On his side."

Sy walked up to him, pulled open his tattered blue plaid button down and looked over the gash on his side. She looked back at Zero and shook her head. "It's not anything to worry about eater wise. Just a wound." she said, stepping away from him.

"What the fuck is an 'eater'?" Fares frowned.

"Those things that were going to attack you, before we came in." Zero told them, putting the safety on his AK and sitting back against the pile in front the door. He checked the clip and a bunch of other stuff, Trix did the same as Alex, Fares and Björne sat back down. Sy dug in her pack and pulled out some items. She stood up and when over to Alex and motioned for him to follow her.

"You want him to follow you?" Fares protested.

"Yeah, unless he wants that wound on his side to get infected, if it isn't already and if the blood isn't covered up and controlled the eaters will sniff it out." Sy snapped at him.

"I don't trust you." Fares snapped back.

Sy growled, dropping her head back. She set the medical supplies aside and unloaded all her weapons, her bow, quiver, clips and guns. "There." she showed him, arms out and turning.

"Knife in you boot." Trix added.

"I might need it." she glared at him. "I'm not Catwomen."

Fares, Björne and Alex exchanged looks with each other.

"Fine, bleed and or get sick and die for all I care. What's one more to add to the loss." Sy rolled her eyes going past him. Alex stopped her, grabbing her by the arm.

"I trust you." he whispered.

Sy sighed softly, grabbed the medical supplies again and led him to a little kitchen, away from all the others in the place. She laid the supplies down on a counter island and pointed to a chair for Alex to sit in. "Take your shirt off too, please." she told him, pulling a chair up in front of him. Alex nodded and hung the shirt up on the back of the chair. He watched Sy lean close to him and look over his wound, touching it carefully.

"So, how long you guys been out here?" he asked, trying to break the silence.

"Me, my brother Zero and Trix, the kid, along with our other three guys Toombs, Tank and Link have been here since before it happened. All of us but Link were born in the US. Link was born in Mexico." she told him, leaning back and grabbing a closed bottle of water and a pad of goze. Popping open the water and wetting the pad, she wiped and pressed it too his wound making him hiss and bite his bottom lip. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Alex groaned.

"This wound is sorta old. Its hardened over some and its got puss inside of it." She told him, dropping the wet pad to the floor. "I have to open and drain it." Alex's eyes went wide as she told him she'd have to cut up his wound.

"If there was another way, I'd do it. But there's not. If the puss sits there any longer, the more it'll enter your blood stream and make you really sick." She tried to explain it to him as lightly as possible.

Alex gulped and nodded his head slowly, "Okay." he whispered. "What do I do?"

"I need you to lay down." she told him, getting up, pushing the chair back as she did. Alex rubbed his face, looking at the floor. "Here, wait." Sy stopped him as he started to lay down. She left the kitchen and came back with a brown blanket. She laid it out, took off her black and red hoodie, folded it up and laid it down on the blanket too as a pillow.

"There, make it a little more comfy." she smiled at him.

Alex smiled at her and laid down on his back, his head supported by her rolled up hoodie. Sy brought the medical supplies down to floor level as she sat cross legged beside him, she pulled her knife from her boot and flipped it open, she poured iodine on the black blade and laid it on fresh goze.

"Go you have any painkillers?" Alex asked, meeting her eyes.

Sy pressed her lips together and shook her head at him. "No, sorry." she apologized, pouring more iodine on another piece of gaze and wiping around the wound, but she paused. "Oh, you know what." she said, her eyes far off. "Trix! Come here and bring your bag." she called out to the kid. Trix came rushing in, gripping his bag by a strap.

"Yeah, Sy. Got it right here." He tripped over himself to give it to her and watched like a caught sheep as she dug through it and pulled out a 12oz bottle of whiskey.

"Here, down some of this." she opened the bottle and held it to Alex's lips, letting him gulp down a fourth of it. "Okay. I'll let you have the rest when I'm done." she told him, putting the cap back on the bottle and setting it aside. "Thanks you, Trix. You can get lost now." Trix nodded, taking his bag back to the front room.

"Thanks." Alex replied when Trix was gone.

"Anytime." Sy answered picking up her knife. "You want something to bite or you good?" she asked him.

"Is it gunna hurt?" Alex asked looking her in the eyes. His dark blue-green orbs looked worried and scared beyond belief.

"I was just throwing it out there." Sy answered.

Alex squeezed his eyes shut and dropped his head back to her hoodie. "Just go." he told her.

"Okay." she nodded, then pressed the tip of the knife to the wound. Alex growled deep in his throat, reaching out and gripping Sy's knee, squeezing his eyes shut tighter as she cut open the length of his wound. Sy dropped the knife as thick white puss oozed out of the cut, she picked up a package of iodine and ripped it open with her teeth. "Big pain." she warned him and squeezed the stinging brown liquid out of the package to his oozing wound. Alex howled in agony as the iodine soaked into the cut. Fares, Trix, Björne and Zero leaned in the doorway of the kitchen to see what all the commotion was about. Sy ignored them, wiping away the puss and pressing it out as much as she could and letting Alex squeeze her leg as much as he need too.

"Is he gunna be okay?" Björne asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm sure of it." Sy answered, still pushing puss out of the wound and pouring more Iodine on it. "I need to keep an eye on it to make sure it heals right."

"That means they have to stay with us." Trix whined.

"Yeah, just like you have to when we found your dumb ass." Sy mocked back. "Go radio Link and tell them the situation." she barked out the order. "And the rest of you, beat it or your next." she threatened. Not needing farther threats the group at the door was gone to find something else to do.

"I don't want to be a burden." Alex panted.

"Shut up and breathe." Sy ordered, opening the wound a bit deeper. Alex groaned and the knife cut deeper into his side and gripping her knee even tighter, but Sy never registered it. "There. I'm gunna let it ooze a bit longer, then I'ma bandage it up. I don't want you moving. So just lay there, you need something let me know, got it?"

"Got it." Alex answered, still panting. "But tell me something."

"Anything."

"Okay then two somethings."

Sy smiled at him, cleaning off her knife. "What is it?"

"One, what's your name and two, how do you know what you're doing?"

"One, My name is Sy and two, I'm a medic." A frown washed over her face. "Well, I was before the whole end of the world thing. I was 3 months shy of becoming a doctor."

"Sy. What's that short for?" he asked looking at her.

"Nothing. It's my full name. My parents weren't very clear minded when they had me." she laughed. "I'm guessing Alex is short for Alexander?"

"Yeah." Alex smiled faintly up at her.

"Defender of man. Good name to have now a days."

"Yeah, you'd think."

Sy patted Alex on the shoulder and packed away the medical supplies, then sat back against the counter island facing Alex and closed her eyes. It was going to be another long night, the eaters or the people that had been affected by the disease that swept over the world, turning many into flesh eating, night walking maniacs, where coming out in stronger and bigger numbers every night. But luckily they seemed to be spread out from each other, though God only knows how long that'll last. It only took three day, _three day_ for the world to end and tip upside down. The brown, cloudless and sunny sky was utterly unforgiving in the day time. It was so hot in the day you could fry an egg the sidewalk and so cold at night, you couldn't wet your lips without running the chance of them freezing together. Chapstick, sun block and sun glasses were your best amigo in the day and a thick blanket, more chapstick and another human body were your partner at night. Yeah, Sy, Zero, Trix, Link, Toombs and Tank had it all down to a pretty good fine science. They had their faults, nothing out of the usual though. Only being some of the last surviving people on the planet over run with Zombies, supplies were few and in between, like toilet paper, a bar of soap or even a washer machine. But shit could be improvised for that. They always sold out the ammo stores and aisles when they could, got what good food they could use, water was a hard thing to get right, but thanks to Trix, they had a system of making damn sure it was clean enough to drink and cook with. They raided hospitals for medical supplies when needed, clothing stores for new shoes and whatever else they needed to cover themselves. It was no means a simple life, or an easy one. But they all knew that it could be worse and as long as they had each other, they'd be able to get through it virtually unhurt.

Sy jerked awake, hearing a startled gasp from in front of her. Sitting up, putting a hand on her shoulder gun and reaching into the side pouch of her cameo pants, she pulled out a glow stick and broke it, illuminating the kitchen in a blue glow as she shook it for extra strength. It was Alex sitting up on his elbows, sweating heavily and staring frighteningly at the small kitchen window behind her. Glazing at her watch, it read: _3.03am_. She set the glow stick between them and rested her hand on his tense shoulder. She could hear the eaters now, running and screeching passed the window and around the building. It was sound that kept her wake many of the first nights, haunted her dreams for weeks after and finally, just recently, she got use too. But obviously Alex hadn't gotten to that point yet.

"It's okay." she whispered to him, wiping sweat from his temple. "They can't get in."

"You sure?" Alex asked, never tearing his eyes from the window.

"Yeah, the window is too small, the door is blocked and Zero's watching it. The windows on the third floor are too high for them to reach." Sy assured him. She ran her fingers through his short blond hair, smiling as it spiked from him sweating. "Just lay back down, I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."

Alex laid back, breathing slowly in and out through his mouth. He stared at the ceiling, his stomach rumbled angrily. Sy frowned hearing it and watching him press his hand to his stomach, closing his eyes. She shifted to get up and he grabbed her by the wrist, looking at her from the corners of his eyes.

"I'm just going to get my bag, okay. I won't be more than like 12 feet from you." she told him tenderly. Alex's hand slowly let go of her waist and Sy stood up, edged around him and went into the other room where the others where at.

"Everything okay?" Zero asked. He was sitting on turned over paint bucket in front of the door, his FAMAS loaded and ready to go if anything happened.

"Yeah, just need my bag. Got a growling tummy in there and by the sound of how pissed it is, he hasn't eaten in a little bit." Sy replied picking up her bag, which was where she dropped it last.

"Yeah, Trix gave those two some food and water, he was gunna give some to you two, but you were already asleep and I told him to leave you." Zero answered, watching the shadows outside zoom by. Sy sighed, standing next to Zero, facing away from the shadows. There was an uneasy pause and silence between them, words for their thoughts didn't have to be said out loud because they'd been said so many times before.

"Go get some food in the boy's belly, Sy." Zero said softly, looking down at his safety. "We'll talk about it later."

Nodding and patting him on the shoulder, she took her pack back into the kitchen and sat back down in her spot beside Alex, who looked at her with a gulp. Sy smiled at him, digging in her bag and pulling out a medium sized brown package and a dark green spoon and handed it to him.

"What is this?" Alex frowned taking the items.

"Um, I think that's chilli and beans. I got...uh meatloaf with gravy and Pork Chow Mein, if ya wanna switch." she told him holding up two other medium sized packages.

"Okay, but what the hell is this?" he asked shaking the package at her.

"Oh, their MREs." Sy answered, grabbing another spoon for herself. "Meal Ready to Eat. It's military food. They have a shelf life of 25 years, so they're good stuff for us."

Alex grimaced at the MRE and spoon in his hand, but his stomach was telling him to rip that shit open and devour it. Setting the spoon down and ripping open the package, he looked in at the gooey mess in it and looked up at Sy still a bit grossed out. Sy offered him a smile, as she ate the Chow Mein with her fingers. Shrugging, Alex picked his spoon back up and dug into the food. It wasn't as bad as he thought it would have been, he was actually sorta impressed by it.


	3. Bonding

Trix flipped a quarter up into the air and caught it on the back of his hand, then flipped it again. He was waiting for Zero, Sy and the other three new guys to come out of the building they spent all night in. Zero was explaining that Fares and Björne were to stay between the three of them in case something happened and Sy was bandaging Alex's wound as tight as she could. Trix had already radioed Link and the others a few hours before dawn, telling them that they were on the way and had some presents for them when they got there. Dropping the quarter, Trix bent over and picked it up, standing straight again, jingling the radio pack on his back to shift it back into the right spot, Trix turned and looked inside the door of the building.

"Come on already." he called, his voice echoing slightly in the empty streets.

"Yeah, yeah." Zero barked coming out. Fares and Björne filing in behind him. "Keep your training wheels on."

"God, please keep those fuckers on," Sy chimed in coming out with Alex. "I'm not holding your ass up all the time."

"Alright, everyone ready?" Zero asked, looking around at the group, who looked at each other and nodded. "Good, let's rock 'n' roll."

The group headed out, down the street and back to the school bus and to their next destination, where ever that might be, none of them knew. The day seemed hotter than usual, Sy gave Alex, Björne and Fares some chapstick she had stashed in her back and Trix gave them water to drink. They stopped just outside the city limit, Trix pulled out a pair of binoculars and scanned the desert out in front of them. He spotted nothing, but a circling bird. He gave the group the okay signal and they continued in the direction of the bus. Not a mile and half from the city limit, Björne decided it was a good time to throw a temper tantrum.

"I'm tried of fucking walking, why can't they come and pick us up!" he bitched.

"It waste gas, dumb ass." Zero snapped, stopping and turning back to look at him. "Let's go. We only have another 5 and half miles until we get there. Then you can throw a tantrum on the bus as we move out. So, get your ass up and let's go."

Björne dropped to the hot ground, cross armed and legged, a smart ass look on his face as he challenged Zero's patience. Sy and Trix exchanged looks with each other, knowing that Björne was going to either get up and walk or Zero was going to shoot him dead. One way or another, Björne was going to lose. Fares rubbed his face, exhausted and hot and Alex stumbled over to Björne, grabbing him behind one elbow and pulled him up.

"Dude, we're all sick of walking. But we have too, alright. This is our only chance to survive in this shit hole and we need all the chances we can get. So, put on your big boy underwear, tie on the cape and get to steppin' or I'm going to kill you myself." he threatened his long time friend. Björne looked up at Alex with a slack jaw. Alex pressed his lips together, patting Björne on the back and giving him a shove forward. "You can do it." he encouraged. They didn't have another issue with Björne the rest of the time.

"You okay, Alex?" Sy asked, slowing down to walk with him.

Alex had taken his shirt off and tucked it in the back pocket of his dirty and faded jeans. He was slightly slouched and holding his hand over his wound, breathing sorta heavy. Sy looked him over, his skin was red from the sun, lips were dry, dripping with sweat and barely walking.

"Ye-yeah." he panted.

"No, you're not." she said, pulling him to a stop. "Hold!" she called to the rest of the group.

"What's up?" Zero asked coming up between Trix and Fares. "His wound?"

"I don't think it is, maybe though." Sy answered, pulling her sleeve over her palm and wiping Alex's flushed face. "I think its the sun and that. He might have had a fever from the wound being untended for so long, the sun his cooking him. I need to get some sunblock on him, get him hydrated and cooled off before we continue on."

"Alright, we need a water break anyway." Zero agreed, looking Alex over himself.

"Here, Alex." Sy said, getting him to sit down. She unscrewed the lid of her water bottle and handed it to him to drink. "Drink all of it." she told him, dropping her pack and bow on the ground and pulling out the SPF 20 from the bottom of her pack.

"What about you?" Alex panted between gulps.

"I'll be fine. Trix has more water if I need it." she replied squeezed some of the sunblock into her hand. "Can I put this on you?" she asked, rubbing the sunblock into both hands. Alex nodded and Sy stepped behind him to rubbed the sunblock good and well onto his shoulders, neck and back. He hissed lightly over the sensitive spots on his shoulders.

"Arms." Sy said, putting more sunblock in her hands and rubbing it into his impressive arms. "Okay, stand up and let me see that chest." she teased him. Alex chuckled, standing up and taking the last gulp of water from Sy's water bottle.

She finished off his chest and looked up at him, he was so much taller than her. "My height, please." she requested, with her index finger. Alex bent slightly at the waist and brought his face close to hers, making Sy gulp nervously. She shyly put what the sunblock that was left on her hands on his face and ears, then stepped back. "You got sunglasses? You're blue eyed, blue eyes don't absorb sun light."

"No, I don't." Alex shook his head.

Sy nodded and when back to her pack, putting the sunblock away and pulling out a second pair of sun goggles that looked like hers but were black, not tan. She stood up, next to him, showed him the three lenses that came with the goggles, yellow, clear and black ones and showed him how to pop them in and out, then popped in the black ones and handed him the goggles and lenses. "You can keep them. I only need one pair. I was being a little greedy when we went on to a military base a few weeks back." she explained, pulling her goggles off her head, switching the clear lenses for the black ones, then put them on to shield her eyes from the rising sun.

"Thanks." Alex nodded, pulling on his new goggles.

"No problem." Sy smiled, pulling her back back on. "Trix, can we get two refreshments over here?" she called to Trix like he was a bartender.

"Of course, my lady." Trix played along, pulling out for fresh water bottles and tossing them to Sy and Alex. "That'll be $11.50."

"$11.50!" Sy ranted. "Yesterday they were $13.29. $11.50 is way too rich for my blood." Everyone laughed as she took a good drink of the water.

"Why you dropping in price, Trix?" Zero asked, getting up from where he was sitting.

"I'm not. Its a business deal. $11.50 per bottle and there's 9 of us. So 9 times 11.50 is..what?" Trix stopped to figure the math in his head.

"$103.50." Fares told him, pouring some water on his face.

"Yeah and when it was just 6 of us at 13.29 pre bottle that was what, Fares?"

"Something like $79 and change." Fares answered.

"Yeah, but if you kept it at $13.29 with 9 people you'd be getting $119.61." Sy explained. "So, in reality you're losing money." Trix's shoulders slumped and he looked like someone just stole his lollipop from him.

"It's okay, Trix. Just put it on our tab." Zero chuckled, patting the kid on the shoulder. "Let's get going again. I wanna try and be on the road before night fall."

"You good?" Sy asked looking up at Alex.

"Yeah." she smiled big at her.

"Okay, if you need to stop, let us know okay?" she told him as they started walking again. "We don't need you dropping on us."

Alex smiled wider at her and patting her on the back with a light laugh, "I won't do that, I swear to it."


	4. Back at Camp

"Hurry and get that shit packed, Toombs." Tank yelled out the back door of the bus.

They were packing all their stuff up into the bus and getting ready for when Zero, Trix and Sy got back and they could hit the road. Little did the three know that those three were bringing back three more. It was enough to create tension with them having Alex, Fares and Björne joining the crew and not because they really didn't have the supplies or space for them, but because the six of them were as thick as blood, water and wood. They had been for a long time, especially Sy, Zero, Toombs, Tank and Link, they'd all grown up together, went to the same schools and lived on the same block as each other. But they weren't about to leave the three of them out there to die either, so like everything else they did now-a-days, they'd improvise.

"I'm going, I'm going!" Toombs yelled back at him. "Thought Zero and Sy left Link in charge." he mumbled under his breath.

"They did." Link replied coming up behind him and loading a couple of chairs into the back of the bus.

"Fuck!" Toombs yelped. "Damn, I hate when you sneak up like that, Link." he whined, socking him in the arm. Link was expert at sneaking up on everyone and everything, no matter what it was or where it was, he could do it.

Link shrugged, going back to the stuff that needed to be loaded. "Tank, get your ass out here and make sure the gas tank is full." he ordered, picking up more stuff and heading to put them in the back with the rest.

"I already did." Tank called, kicking his legs up on the dashboard from the driver's seat. "It's as full as the law allows."

"Then, come help us pack up or I'm going to drop kick you over the state line." Link threatened, appearing in the door way of the bus. Tank scrambled out of the bus and started helping put the last of the items away and locking up the back.

"When do you think they'll get here?" Tank asked staring out the window in the direction Trix, Sy, Zero and the others would be coming from.

"It took them, 2 hours to get from there yesterday," Toombs answered, leaning over a map. "Should take about that long and Trix radioed at 4 this morning saying they'd be heading back at first good light. That was at 6:20 and its 7:45 now. So, they should be here anytime now."

Tank and Link nodded, getting more comfortable in their seats. Toombs was the best and greatest map man left and he was always on point. He said someone was gunna be at the door in four hours, 23 minutes and 46 seconds, you knew damn well they'd be there in four hours, 23 minutes and 46 seconds and not a second early or late. Shit like that you couldn't sell, but they bought lucky into Toombs on their side in all this mess.

"I'm gunna get a few winks." Tank mumbled, pulling his hat over his eyes. "Wake me when they get here."

"Will do." Toombs nodded, not looking up from the map.


	5. A name for the grave

"That bird has been circling around for awhile now, Zero." Trix said, looking up at the bird from earlier. It was still circling and steadily getting lower.

Zero pulled on his sunglasses and looked up at the bird Trix was talking about, it was a hawk for what he could gather. It had the same body type and wing span as one. "Looks hungry." he noted looking back ahead of him.

"For what?" Trix asked, bumping into Zero. "What the hell, Zero?" he snapped.

"I'm guess that's what he's circling." Zero replied, pointing a figure a few yards ahead of them moving in weird patterns. "Guns ready." he whispered to Trix as he took his safety off. Trix nodded and readied his gun and they inched forward.

"What are they doing?" Fares asked Sy, watching Trix and Zero go stealth.

Sy sighed, stopping and grabbing her binoculars from her bag. Focusing them right, all she saw was Zero and Trix, they were blocking what they were going after. "I can't see what their doing." she told them putting the binoculars away. "Stay behind me." she ordered, picking up her pace to get to the other two.

When she got up behind them, their guns pointed to the ground and eyebrows raised as they watched a half naked guy dancing in circles with his arms out like a plane, babbling weird shit. The six stood and watched him for a bit, confused to what the hell was going on.

"Sun fry is brain?" Björne asked.

"Possible." Zero answered.

"No, it's not." Sy replied, pulling her goggles up and narrowing her eyes. "Wound on his neck." she pointed out. "He's infected."

As if saying he was infected was the key to the locked door the guy stopped and looked at them, still babbling under his breath. He eyes were utterly blood shot, skin dry as the ground they stood on and flaky. Dry blood was caked onto his neck, shoulder and chest from where he had been bitten and he was missing the ear on that side.

"We will all die." he hissed in a creaked voice. "All will die."

Alex stepped around Sy to step closer, but Sy's arm came out, barring him from going any farther. She shook her head at him, pulling her gun from her back. Sy released the safety with her thumb, staring at the infected man before them.

"Do you remember your name?" she asked him.

The man paused, looked to the ground confused, mumbling something under his breath as he did.

"What's his name matter?" Fares asked. Zero waved him off.

"What's your name?" Zero asked.

"Matthew was my name, death is it now." the man replied, creaking his neck in a gross way as he looked back up at them.

"Matthew, it is." Sy said, pointing her gun at him. "God be with you, my friend." she told him.

"And death with you." he replied.

Sy nodded and pulled the trigger. The shot rang out in the emptiness and the dull thud of Matthew followed after. Cautiously stepping closer and standing over Matthew, her gun pointed at his chest, blood oozing from his forehead. "Death is always with me," she whispered. "What makes me human." She held the trigger for a moment, letting off a short automatic round into Matthew's chest. Putting the safety back on the gun and shoving it back in her back waistband, Sy looked up at Trix.

"Dig the hole." she said softly, walking away from the body.

"You killed him." Alex growled as she walked by him. She twisted back around and looked up at him, anger flaring in her eyes.

"Alex, he was infected. He was dead and dying before we ever got here. He would have turned into those things that attacked us last night and were running wild in the dark after that in search of some poor innocent person to feed on and turn into one of them. I put him out of his misery and out of our thoughts and fears."

"But why did you ask his name?" Fares complained again.

"Everyone deserves a name on their gravestone." she answered, going over to Zero to talk to him. "How far are we from camp? Sy asked her brother, standing over him. "I need to check and change Alex's bandages."

"About a mile," Zero answered, looking over a small map he had. "Maybe less." Sy nodded, looking over at Trix as he dug a hole to bury Matthew in. "You did the right thing, Sy." Zero said looking up at her.

"Did I?" she sighed, squatting in front of Zero. "Are we?"

Zero held Sy's cheek in his hand and smiled at her, "This is all we can do now, Sy." he told her. "Or we'll end up just liked Matthew over there and I can't let that happen to any of us. I won't let it."

"I know, but I can't help but think about..."

"Shh, I know. Don't say it." Zero cut her off. Sy dropped her head, squeezing her eyes shut a moment, pushing back old, but fresh, memories.

"I'm gunna go help Trix. Make it go faster." she said, standing up.

"Okay." Zero nodded, pressing his lips together as he watched her walk away. "and I'm sorry." he whispered to the wind.

Not wanting to touch Matthew's bloody and infected body, Sy, Zero and Trix rolled him into the grave with their boots. Trix dropped a rock with a piece of paper tied around it with Matthew's name on it into the grave, then they covered the grave up again. Sy stood at the foot of the grave as Zero stood at the head of it. Trix, Fares, Alex and Björne stood to one side, watching the other two fold their hands in front of them and bow their heads.

"What are they doing?" Björne whispered into Trix's ear.

"Saying a prayer." Trix answered. "Sy and Zero are very religious when it comes to shit like this. Especially now a days."

A gentle wind blow as Zero and Sy said a prayer over Matthew's grave, it was cooling to the scorching heat of the day sun. Their 'Amen' blow swiftly away with it as they finished their prayer and picked their weapons back up off the ground, they nodded at each other as they strapped them on.

"Let's go." Zero said, heading up the group. "We're almost there and it's not even noon yet."

"Thank god." Björne groaned, making Sy smile and laugh amused.


	6. Flushing out old wounds

An arrow embedded in the metal of the bus just above the window of the driver's side, startling the hell out of Tank, who was still dozing in the driver's seat. Toombs looked out the side windows of the bus as Trix came into the driver's window and attacking Tank, playfully. Link came off the bus and greeted Sy and Zero, raising an eyebrow at Alex, Björne and Fares.

"Who are you?" Tank asked coming off the bus with Toombs.

"This is Alex, Fares and Björne." Zero introduced the new members. "Their new members of the crew."

"Wait, what?" Tank shook his head. "No, it's bad enough we had to keep Trix. But he's got skills we can use. What the fuck can the three of you do?"

"Um, I was a game designer before the apocalypse." Björne said.

"I was unemployed." Fares answered.

"I worked off and on, but I have some military experience." Alex explained.

"See, useless." Tank ranted, throwing his hands up in the air.

Zero grabbed Tank by the shirt and slammed him against the side of the bus. "I'll be the judge of their usefulness and if they aren't, they're staying anyway." he growled.

"But.."

"Tank!" Zero barked. "End of conversation. You don't like it, get to walking." he snapped, shoving Tank into the bus as he stepped back.

"Fuck this." Tank snapped, going back on the bus. "I don't give a shit. We die cause of them, not my fault."

"You'll the first to go, then." Sy rolled her eyes. "And we'll all stand around and watch."

Tank narrowed his eyes at her, starting the bus up and pulling his sunglasses on. Zero turned to Link, who held up a hand to him.

"Stuff's all packed away, gas tank is full and Toombs has been working on our next spot." he told him, before he even asked.

"Good, then. We can all get on the bus and head the fuck out. I'm sick of being here already." Zero said, heading around the bus to the door.

"Come on guys." Sy said waving the new three to follow her, Link and Toombs. "Say good bye to this place."

"Bye." Björne said looking back and spitting on the ground. "Hope we never see you again." he mumbled climbing on board with the rest.

Tank pulled the doors shut and Toombs pushed a thick steel pipe in welded on hooks on the doors and the sides of them, securing that the doors stayed closed and nothing could open them up. The bus jerked forward as Tank hit the gas, moving the vehicle forward on the cracked and pot holed road, leaving behind their camp and the city they'd been in. They headed in the direction Toombs had highlighted on the map. Tank sat in the driver's seat driving, Zero sat in the seat behind him with Link, Toombs sat in the seat two rows back at a table that been put were another bus seat had been, but was ripped out to put the table there for his mapping. Five other rows of bus seats were taken out and cots were bolted in like bunk beds on each side, there was six of those, another 4 rows of seats than the last of the seat after that were taken out to make room for all the gear and supplies they needed like food, more guns, ammo, clothing, shoes, chairs, tents, tools to build things and repair the bus, spare tires, radios, wood, two boxes of grenades, glow sticks and flares among other things. Fares and Björne sat in one of the two rows in front of Toombs and Sy had Alex laying down in one of the bottom cots checking over his wound as she sat on an empty box beside him. She cut the gauze from around his chest that held the other gauze in place and pulled that gauze away. The wound was pussing still a bit and it was reddish and a little puckered around the edges. She spread it apart with her index and middle fingers, more puss came out with some blood and Alex hissed.

"I have to flush this." she told him letting the wound go. "Get the solution really in there to make sure. Wish I had some antibiotic for you to take with this too, but I don't. The hospitals we've been in ran out trying to treat infected people with it, in hopes it help."

"It's alright." Alex replied looking her in the eyes. "I'm sure I'll survive without it as long as I got you looking after me." he smiled.

Sy blushed looking down at the bus floor. "Thanks, I'm trying." she smiled encouragingly at him. "Zero, I need you." she called to the front of the bus."

"Why do you need him?" Alex asked watching Zero get up and come towards them.

"I need someone to hold open the wound as I flush it out and you can't do it yourself and I can't cause I need both hands." she explained to him as Zero pulled up an upside gallon sized bucket and sat next to her by him.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Hold on." Sy said, digging out iodine and a 35ml syringe. She sucked the iodine into the syringe and set it on her lap. "I need you to turn on your side facing the wall." She instructed Alex. "And I need you to hold open his would the best you can. Wash your hands with this though. He doesn't need anymore infections." she told Zero handing him a medical hand sanitizer wipe.

"Okay." Zero nodded, ripping open the wipe and rubbing his hands clean with them.

Zero pulled Alex's wound as far open as he could with his thumb and index finger. Alex groaned in agony, balling up his fist and hitting the side of the bus. Sy frowned softly, picking up the syringe and using it to flush the wound out. Alex screamed in pain, hitting the wall again, as Sy refilled the syringe and squirted more iodine into the wound. When she was done she dropped the syringe on the floor and pressed a fresh piece of gauze to it, carefully pressing it into the wound to soak up what was inside of it, Alex's body tensed and Zero held him down with his other hand.

"You're doing good, man." he encouraged him.

"Tell me that when the shit is over." Alex groaned.

"It's over." Sy laughed, tossing aside the dirty gauze and ripping open a new package of it. "Thanks Zero." she smiled at him.

"Anytime, sis." Zero smiled back, patting her on the back and kissing her temple, then going back to the front of the bus.

"You two are related?" Alex asked, sitting up so Sy could wrap up his side.

"Yeah, he's my older brother." She replied tying the gauze around his torso to secure the gauze over his wound.

"Got anymore siblings?"

Sy dropped her hands to her knees and looked at him with hurt guarded eyes. Alex looked at her, gulping with regret.

"I'm sorry I didn't..."

"It's okay. You didn't know." she whispered, cleaning up. "I had a twin brother. He was with us for the first two months, but we got ambushed one night by the eaters and they got him." Sy pressed her eyes shut, fighting back the tears for a moment, then regained herself.

"You kill him too?" Alex asked, regretting that the moment it came out of his mouth.

"No," Sy scoffed, smiling faintly. "He got away before we really knew what happened to him. Haven't seen him since. Likely not too."

"I'm really sorry about that, Sy." Alex frowned, resting his hand on her shoulder.

Sy smiled, resting her hand on his, smiling at him warmly. "It's alright. I'd rather remember him for who he was and not for what he probably is now."

Alex's hand slid up her shoulder to the back side of her neck, they stared each other in the eyes as he pulled her closer. His cracked lips pressed to her chapped ones, their eyes closing the farther they melted into the kiss like a chocolate bar in the noon day sun. A gun click and locked into the loaded position and pressed to Alex's temple. Gulping, he opened his eyes to find it was Sy holding one of her pistols to his head, her face blank as they pulled apart. He licked his lips nervously, tasting her chapstick as he did.

"Don't ever do that again." she whispered to him. "Got it? There's more shit to worry about then you wanting down my pants." she told him, putting the gun away and walking up to the front of the bus to talk with Toombs about their next rest stop. Alex's head slowly dropped as rejection set into him like the nail that ripped open his side as Fares shoved him against a fence to save him from getting eaten by one of the eaters they encountered.

Sy looked back over her shoulder at him as she leaned against her hands on the map covered table. She saw his head drop, face full of rejection and he laid back on the cot, an arm over his eyes. A sting of regret and guilt settled in her as she realized that he possibly just wanted to kiss her and not jump her, because who knows when the last time it was he saw a female and got some off her. She blinked hard, shaking her head and forcing herself to focus on what it was Toombs was say about it would take a day and a half to get to the boarder and not even sure they could pass it.

"We'll try any and every way we can." She told him. "No matter what it takes, we'll get pass the boarder and see what's on the other side."

"Whatever you say, Sy." Toombs nodded, circling the name of the city they'd be going to if they got passed the boarder and making a highlighter orange line where the boarder would be at.

"Yeah, what I say." she mumbled back at him, earning a look from Link and Zero.

Zero gave Link a nod and Link got up and moved to another seat as Zero pulled Sy down into the seat beside him. He wrapped an arm tight around her shoulders, so she couldn't get up and rested his forehead against her temple.

"Why don't you take a nap." he whispered into her ear, only Sy hearing what he said. "You've only slept 6 hours in four days. You need the rest. You're no use to us asleep on your feet, we need your bow and ground skills and Alex back there needs a medic to keep him alive." Zero told her. "Just a few winks, two or three hours. Nothing is going to happen to us on the road and we'll be riding for at least 8 hours, it won't hurt, Sy-Sy."

Sy adjusted her sun goggles and looked at Zero, tapping her forehead on his in a mini head bump and smiled. "Two hours and that's it." she warned him pointing a finger in his face. Sy was the only person on the planet that could get way with a move like that, Zero thought. "Any more and I'll cap you in the foot." Zero smiled impressively at his sister and quickly kissed her cheek.

"Scout's honor." he said pounding a fist on his bulletproof Kevlar vest.

Sy rolled her eyes at him, shifted and laid her head on his bulky shoulder, sighing. "I want my life back." she groaned, dropping off into pitch black dreams.

"We all do." Zero whispered, looking out the front windows of the bus. "We all do."


End file.
